Hiroshima and Nagasaki
“Barbenheimer” jokes trigger outrage in Japan
The double start of the unequal films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” became a huge hype. The duel was jokingly referred to as the “Barbenheimer”.
The jokes on the Internet about the simultaneous release of the blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in the USA, Germany and other countries have met with great outrage in Japan.
In response to images on social media of Barbie wearing a cloud of atomic bombs as her hairstyle and other jokes under the hashtag “Barbenheimer,” young Japanese activists have launched a petition calling on the film’s distributors to take action. “Please do not downplay the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the suffering of the victims and survivors,” the activists wrote on the campaign website change.org, adding the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer.
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is a profound yet gaudy satire about the famous toy doll, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. “Oppenheimer” is a historical thriller about an American astrophysicist who went down in history as one of the fathers of the American atomic bomb.
#NoBarbenheimer in Japan
For weeks, the studios had successfully fueled the hype about the double launch of the blockbuster. The duel was jokingly called “Barbenheimer”. In Japan, where the atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are commemorated on August 6 and 9, the jokes are not found funny: social media users in the country reacted with a countertrend using the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer.
“We cannot help feeling that this insensitive #Barbenheimer movement is completely downplaying the atrocities of the atomic bombs,” the petition reads. In response to the outrage on the Japanese internet, Barbie’s Japanese X account released an apology.
The fact that the official US Barbie account responded positively to fan posts, including pictures of Barbie with a mushroom cloud hairstyle, was thoughtless and inappropriate. Warner Bros. Group finally said in a statement that it regrets its “recent insensitive engagement on social media.” We ask for a “sincere apology”.
The petition demands that Warner Bros. take to social media to apologize for the online activity and that the companies take action to prevent a repeat. “Barbie” hits theaters in Japan on August 11, just days after the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A cinema release for “Oppenheimer” in Japan, however, is not yet certain.